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Obama, Romney in Tight Race; Armstrong Found Guilty of Doping; Marco Rubio's Daughter Hospitalized After Car Crash

Aired October 27, 2012 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Top of the hour. I'm Don Lemon. The stories you're talking about in just a moment. But first, we want to get you up to speed on the headlines right now.

And of course, look at these people in Washington, D.C. They are stocking up already on bottled water, on batteries, on canned food. A category one hurricane is spinning offshore and is getting close to them. Hurricane Sandy, we're talking about. Forecasters say it probably will come ashore likely in the D.C. area. The storm is off South Carolina right now. And make sure you stay right there. I'm about to talk with a weather scientist on board a plane inside the hurricane.

The storm has forced the presidential candidates to rearrange their travel plans. President Barack Obama campaigns in Florida tomorrow. That's away from the storm. And Mitt Romney has canceled rallies in Virginia. He will be in Ohio instead.

And I want you to take a look at this young lady. This is Amanda Rubio, the 12-year-old daughter of Florida senator Marco Rubio. She will spend the night in a Miami hospital after a golf cart accident today. We are told she has a head injury and is in fair condition. Her dad, the senator, was campaigning with Mitt Romney when he got the news and headed immediately to Miami.

We have a lot more planned for you this Saturday night. Here's what else we're working on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ridiculous rhetoric.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Explain to me why retard is inappropriate.

LEMON: From Ann Coulter to Donald Trump. The partisan election blather explodes. Tonight, we take a stand.

Just shut up already.

The poll, so many of them, who do they call? My cell phone or land line, should we believe them? We have a lot of questions for the pollster who knows it all. Here comes Sandy, the massive hurricane barreling up the east coast heading straight towards the biggest city, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and D.C.

All that, plus, selling your virginity. What your Halloween costume set about your inner freak factor and why Christina Aguilera may be sitting on her best asset.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right, let's get back now to our top story.

And that, of course, is hurricane Sandy, still a day from landfall. But forecasters are not mincing words about the power of this storm. They say when it does come ashore we'll see major flooding, widespread power outages and we are talking about possibly Washington, D.C. where it should come ashore. They are expecting Philadelphia, New York City, New England, all right in the forecast here.

Right now, there's nobody closer than this storm -- closer to the storm than Jessica Williams, a meteorologist on board on airplane flying inside the hurricane right now.

So, tell us what you know, what you're seeing and witnessing about this particular hurricane as you fly through it, Jessica.

Jessica, can you hear me?

JESSICA WILLIAMS, METEOROLOGIST (via phone): Yes, I can hear you.

This Jessica Williams on the NOAA B-3 Orion 800. We're exiting the no storm environment from the northwest.

LEMON: Jessica, what are you seeing inside the hurricane?

WILLIAMS: On the northwest of the storm, we are in a lot of turbulence right now, occasional, moderate turbulence. There are spiral bands of precipitation around the northwest of the storm. It's still a very tropical storm in the center. But on the northwest, it has more cold front features to it.

LEMON: What does that mean for the intensity of this storm from what you're witnessing on the northwest side? Does that mean it's going to make it more powerful?

WILLIAMS: I couldn't really understand your question.

LEMON: OK.

WILLIAMS: But I believe what you're asking is being a tropical storm becoming more subtropical, the wind speed is spreading out. There's a higher wind speed that will affect the larger area. We found our highest wind speeds we found 105 miles out from the storm.

LEMON: OK, Jessica Williams, thank you very much.

She's on board a plane right now going through the storm. And obviously she's witnessing some turbulence, she said, and also a lot of wind and a lot of rain. And you can expect this one to be a huge monster when it indeed comes ashore. Hopefully it will go out to become a fish storm but forecasters say it's not likely at this point. And they expect it to make landfall within the next few days, on Monday. And if it does, it will be headed right towards Washington, D.C. right now with the forecasted path. Back to that in a moment.

OK. So, just going to be honest with you here. What do you think of the word retard? Is it offensive? Do you cringe when you hear it? Well, some people do the same thing. They cringe when they hear the name Ann Coulter because they know she will do anything for publicity like tweeting that the president of the United States is a retard and go on TV, which is all she ever wanted to do in the first place, to defend it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN COULTER, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: I would not make a joke about a down-syndrome child. Retard is the same as idiot, freak or moron. It means loser. That's what it is meant for. For 30 years, I have word police come in five minutes ago and say, no, we're going to be boasting and tell you what to do. They're the biggest bullies of all, these self-appointed victims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A lot of people have a few choice names for her. But that's just the beginning. There's Trump, there's Sununu and, there's Palin.

So, let's see what choice words he is choosing, a contributor staff for Miss Coulter.

Ana Navarro and Lz Granderson.

OK. Lz, you are a senior writer for ESPN as well. I'm going to start with you first. Go.

LZ GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: OK. Well, I think you nailed it, right? She's back on television. She is mattering again because she said something ridiculous and we're jumping all over it. She's a publicity hound. That's what they do and she's very good at it.

I don't know if her book sales were down, I don't if she was tired of everyone talking about Donald Trump. But, she said what she said because she knew it would be offensive and we would be talking about it now.

So, it is what it is. I mean, what we can't do is allow these people to dictate the political conversation. Let them stay in their little box of publicity but not allow that to bleed into what we need to talk about in terms of the election.

LEMON: OK. Ana, as far as Ann Coulter, what do you say?

ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I agree a lot with what Lz has just said. You know, as you all know, Don, that's not my brand of politics. And I don't think that she is a political pundit. I think she's an entertainer. I think she has another niche.

You know, we see outrageous things going on from, for example, Bill Maher. And they're not shaping the political discourse. They've got a niche. They're entertainers. They are provocateurs. They like to get the conversation going. And they like attention and they cause attention. But I don't think that that's what the substance of our political discourse or the tone of it should be like.

LEMON: I would like to check in. I'll send an e-mail. And just thought of that, I would like to check in with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin to see what she has to say about this since she has a child with Down syndrome. She probably wouldn't like it, but I don't want to speak for her. But let's move on to Donald Trump --

NAVARRO: Don, I have a brother who is mentally challenged. And I can tell you, I don't like the use of the word.

LEMON: You don't like that word.

Let's move on to Donald Trump now and his big announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, CHAIRMAN, CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: If Barack Obama opens up and gives his college records and applications and if he gives his passport applications and records, I will give to a charity of his choice, inner city children in Chicago, American cancer society, aids research, anything he wants, a check immediately for $5 million.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANDERSON: Give it to some other black things that I can think of.

LEMON: I mean, come on, Donald Trump.

Before we talk about it, let's talk about the backlash, even from one of his longtime friends, a journalist who prides herself on objectivity. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, JOURNALIST: Donald, you're making a fool of yourself. Donald, you're not hurting Obama. You're hurting Donald and that hurts me because you're a decent man. Stop it. Get off it, Donald.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Wow, I was surprised watching that moment. Listen, Lz, it turned out to be nothing more than a publicity stunt. Is this birther 2.0 here?

GRANDERSON: You know what this is? This is an opportunity for Mitt Romney to make me feel better if he happens to be president. Because this is the guy who was supposed to speak during the freaking convention, right? And this is what he's doing. What would be nice for Paul Ryan or Mitt Romney or some other large political figure within the Republican Party is to just do what Barbara Walters did which is to say, dude, stop it. You're embarrassing us, you're embarrassing the conversation, you're embarrassing the country and you need to stop it.

LEMON: Yes.

GRANDERSON: Instead, they're silenced. And that silence there bothers me because they are still -- to me, it suggests that, it makes us uncomfortable but if it can get us votes, keep him around. What we need to do is people like him, like Ann Coulter, we just need to say, you need to go away because you're not part of the future that we want.

LEMON: Ana, we got to move on. We're going to have another segment on this and other outlandish things being said on the campaign trail. But quickly, do you agree? Do you think more Republicans should come out and say, listen, Donald Trump, please stop this. Ann Coulter, this ridiculous, it is not productive? What do you think?

NAVARRO: Well, I think the worst thing we could do for Donald Trump is not talk about him. I think that's what would actually hurt him the most. He was trying to help with Mitt Romney that, I'm not sure that's what he achieved. And I will say this. If he offers $5 million to charity and to self-deport, I think that's an offer that President Obama should seriously consider.

LEMON: For him to self-deport. My goodness.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: All right guys. Don't go anywhere. More Ana and Lz, in just a moment. And we are talking about Sarah Palin and John Sununu.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. So, now more outrageous campaign antics.

So, we're Ann Coulter and Donald Trump. We have also Sarah Palin and John Sununu, pick it up.

Palin wrote on her facebook page that the president and shucking and jiving about Libya and later said, you know what, it wasn't a derogatory thing. And for the record, she responded by saying nothing racist about her comments, she believes.

Are we surprised? No. But we probably should be surprised. And then there's John Sununu. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SUNUNU (R), FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR: And, frankly, when you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for endorsing President Obama.

PIERS MORGAN, CNN ANCHOR, PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT: What reason would that be?

SUNUNU: Well, I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the United States. I applaud Colin for standing with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ana, discuss.

NAVARRO: Well, look, he has since walked it back and admitted that there are policy issues that Colin Powell is a friend of his. I think what he said was not the right thing to say. I don't think it was correct. I think Colin Powell is a very respected person.

LEMON: Ana, Ana, Ana, listen. Why is John Sununu after all the things he says, I'm just asking and I'm not a partisan person, people will say, oh, my God. You are carrying water for Obama. I'm not -- It doesn't matter to me. I'm a journalist. Or that you like -- you guys are trying to get Mitt Romney elected president. Neither of which is true. But why is John Sununu a surrogate for the Romney campaign when he says such outlandish you know what? Why?

NAVARRO: I don't know why they would use him at this stage of the game, frankly, because he is somebody that does not have much of a filter. And we are at a stage of the campaign where, listen, Mitt Romney could win. He's actually doing very well.

LEMON: Absolutely. But John Sununu is not helping the case.

NAVARRO: We don't need any unforced errors. And I think that when you put John Sununu out there, he is a guy who says what he thinks. Sometimes it comes out wrong. He's got no filters. And so, you know what? Get him off TV between now and November 6th.

LEMON: OK. Go ahead, Lz.

GRANDERSON: We know why he's there. He's there because he speaks to a certain -- a number of people within the Romney base. He gets them fired up. It's the same reason why Bill Maher says the things he says. It fires up a particular part of their base. John Sununu is a racist. I'm just going to call it. I'm just going to say it.

LEMON: Listen. When I say --

I was not responding to you when you said John Sununu is a racist. I was going to say, I understand what you are saying Bill Maher is not a surrogate for the Obama campaign.

GRANDERSON: No, he's not.

H LEMON: He's not been interviewed and making the case. He donates his money. That's his business. But it's not the same thing.

NAVARRO: And also I think it's not right to judge somebody a racist without knowing them.

GRANDERSON: Well, I just string together, you know, if this was just a one-time comment, then you're right, I wouldn't say that. But if you just look at what this man has said about the president, about black people over the last 3 1/2 to 4 years, I don't understand how anyone who doesn't have those sort of view, harbor those sort of views, either you're such a monstrous politician who's going to manipulate a base as much as you can and you don't care what you say or do in other words to do so or you're a racist. And I just seemed go - I just believed, this is just me, I don't know personally, but what the same races stock over and over again, at some point, just going to start to think that you are a racist.

And that's just my personal opinion. I believe the man is probably harboring some sort of racist feelings about black people. Be various told that A.P. poll came out today that said much of the nation have negative opinions about black people. And you hear this from somebody who's supposed to be an educated, respected leader of the Republican Party, someone who is a governor, and he says this thing about a respected men in the history of our military, so, it is because of race. I don't know what else to make of it besides being a racist.

NAVARRO: Well, but look. Lz, he did not say horrible things about Colin Powell. He said something that was not well said and that he shouldn't have said. He said that he thought the endorsement was based on race.

I think you are entitled to your personal opinion, Lz. I don't share it. I don't think I know the man well enough to judge him a racist and that's a charge that I take very, very seriously. And I think, you know what, we got almost to the end of this campaign without having a heated discussion on race or Mormonism or Mitt Romney's religion, which also a lot of people have issues with. And I almost hope that we get, you know, we're that close to November 6th. Let's get there without this kind of poison becoming part of the political discourse this late on.

LEMON: Yes. Listen, this is --

GRANDERSON: This isn't something that's being introduced. It's always been there. Because we haven't talked about it doesn't mean it isn't there. Just means we haven't talked about it.

LEMON: Listen. We are going to have to move on. But I will say this, when people say there's no evidence that, like Lz says, what are you going to believe me or you are going to believe your own lying ears or your lying eyes. You hear things. You know what the insinuations are and then you wonder as I said to you, Ana, and then Lz, why put him out there and why after he says a number of crazy things -- and he's not the only one.

Not to say, you know what, you don't need you out in front doing this particular thing. As you say, you don't need a misstep at this particular point. That is a question. He obviously speaks to some people in the Republican Party who Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want to go to the voting booths. And that's why he's there continuing to say it.

So, we will move on. It's a great conversation. I wish we could have more of it. But we have to talk about polls. There are polls putting Obama ahead, polls putting Romney ahead, poll that is completely contradict the other polls. Should we believe this or just chuck them. A pollster defense his craft, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Have you seen the presidential polls lately? That was rhetorical. Who hasn't? Romney's in the lead. Obama's the lead. It's a virtual dead heat. And if you're like me, you're confused. So, the folks of daily show are confused to. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A new poll from the Pew research center --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gallup daily tracking poll --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), swing state poll.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Graphic MRA poll.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FOX News poll.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Polling from CNN and collage --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Point of the act poll --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marquette University poll --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ABC News/"Washington Post" poll --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's NBC News/"Wall street Journal" Marist College poll this 7-eleven metric, you get a red cup for the Republican, you get a blue cup for the Democrat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So, let's take a look at how pollsters get these numbers and get a better idea of where the polls stand.

Michael Dimock of the Pew Research Center is here and he has a lot of explaining to do.

Michael, welcome. Thanks for having me.

LEMON: All right. So, let's get wonky with it. You've heard the conversations before. So, we don't hold anything back. We hear people all the time say, you know what, pollsters never call me. Who are you calling?

MICHAEL DIMOCK, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, PEW RESEARCH CENTER: We are calling people all over the country. We'll call you on your home phone. We'll call you on your cell phone. We're trying to reach as random a selection of people all across this country as we can.

LEMON: OK. So, you said home phone and cell phone. Because most people think and maybe it's a misconception here, most people think you only call people who have home phones, therefore it's older people because younger people certainly, pretty much don't have home phones anymore. There are very few young people have home phones. So, you are calling both, getting a sampling from both?

DIMOCK: Yes. And most of the major polls, CNN polls, lot of the major polls, all are included cell phones now. Because you are right, you can't reach any young people if you don't call cell phones, virtually. Even then, it's harder to reach young people mostly because they just live busier lives even on their cell phones. They're just harder to reach. They are harder to pin down for a period of time. But the cell phones really do help get us a better selection of the American public.

LEMON: So, are you saying there -- are you may be lacking in the younger demographic? You can do better in all polls across the board?

DIMOCK: Yes, younger people are among the hardest people for us to reach. We do get a big group of them, though.

LEMON: I'm glad you said that. And I'm glad of your short answers because we have a lot we want to cover here.

Can polls drive public opinion? I mean, they reveal what people think. But, can they also change how people plan to vote?

DIMOCK: You know, I don't think there's clear evidence of that. I think you can find examples that have worked either way where a candidate who gets ahead, maybe that inspires or excites their base. But sometimes when all the polls are looking bad for your guy, that guy's supporters can still get engaged. You saw even this year when the Romney felt like all the polls were against them but his supporters have gotten much more engaged in the days since then. I'm not sure the polls are driving voters in any particular way.

LEMON: OK. So, help me out here. Let's look at some of the latest polls. National poll here, the national poll, this is a 49 percent, Romney, 48 percent, President Obama. Does a national poll really mean anything because the swing states are what counts, we hear, because, you know, OK, Georgia's going to be red. We know what column it's going in. It's a swing state, especially with the Electoral College; does the national poll mean anything? DIMOCK: Well, National poll gives you the sense of the ebb and flow of a campaign whether the debates had an effect most generally, whether events on the ground or arguments of the campaign are sinking in. Typically states will all move sort of together one direction or another. Whether that's the case this year, I think you could make the argument that Ohio, and Florida, and Wisconsin and Nevada are all very different states, but the general temperature of the campaign, I think, is best shown in those broader national polls.

LEMON: OK. So in the swing states like in Ohio, in Florida -- like Ohio now, 50 percent for Obama, 46 percent, Romney and then you go on. You can do that with all of them. And then there's a margin of error. So, if you have a three or four-point margin of error, you'll say, Obama's in the lead but he's within the three-point margin of error, you really haven't told me anything.

DIMOCK: We have told you it's a close race.

LEMON: OK. All right. So, listen. Let's talk about the poll of polls. When you factor -- there are different factors, there are different methodologies that go into poll of polls, right? And then, -- but people -- the people who do the polling don't consider a margin of error but there are different margins of error that go into the poll of polls. So, what?

DIMOCK: I think the polls of polls or the various websites that track and aggregate the polls are useful. It's a place to look at a lot of polls at once. But those numbers are mixing good polls and bad polls, really large, substantial polls with really small minor polls. It's a little hard to get much other than kind of a finger in the wind of how things might be blowing at the moment.

I think it all -- it's all a part of the sense -- people want polls to be more accurate than they can be. I mean, polls are scientific. They are meaningful, but they do only have so much accuracy. And just adding a whole bunch of them together doesn't necessarily give you that much more accuracy. It's just a lot more numbers, as you're saying.

LEMON: Yes. Do you think that people have gotten sort of now because there are so many different polls? I'm just being honest. You saw "the Daily Show" thing on it, Michael. There are so many of them. You don't really know how to read them. That it's all a blur when they see a poll, they just go, whatever?

DIMOCK: Right. I think that's true. And unfortunately as you get later into the game, polls become commodities. It's just a number. Who's ahead? Who's behind? I think the value of these polls is looking behind just that horse race of the election and understanding what people's priorities are. Understanding what issues they really care about and which candidates are stronger and weaker on each of those issues.

LEMON: All right.

DIMOCK: We can tell people a lot about that. Telling you who is ahead by two percentage points, no poll is going to be very good at.

LEMON: Thank you. Thank you very much. Michael, we appreciate it from Pew Research. Very good stuff.

DIMOCK: Thank you.

LEMON: And you know it's getting close to Election Day when you hear about all the crazy tactics that are happening right now and the dirty tricks. And they're getting worse.

Our Joe Johns joins us in a moment for that.

But first, for the first time ever an African-American woman has won Sundance film festival's best director award for her film, "Middle of Nowhere." She talks with CNN about her success and her struggles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVA DUVERNAY, FILM DIRECTOR: My name is Ava DuVernay. And I'm a black woman filmmaker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe it. Ten months early.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's great news. You've got everything going for you. You're coming home.

DUVERNAY: At this point, I've made films that I've written. It takes a lot to make a film. It's a lot of brainpower. A lot of heart, a lot of your spirit goes into these films. The framing of the shots in my films, the choices of music, the cadence and rhythm of the editing, all of that I'm very aware is coming through who I am. And I'm a sister. So I wear that very proudly.

I made a career change from publicist to filmmaker. For me as a publicist, I had a really great job. But I would be on film sets in pain wanting to do my own. I would be asked to work on movies that I thought were caricatures of us as women and black people. It was not going to not laugh at the film (INAUDIBLE). And so for me, it was really about pushing through all that fear.

I think the only thing that drove me is just this idea of forward moving, never to stay still. Like there's something very powerful and something amazing to be said for momentum.

My next film, "Middle of Nowhere," and we're pushing that out and excited about the life it's having since we debuted at Sundance. The fact that it's touching people and changing things, so, I'm really excited about that right now.

I think it's really been a beautiful journey, the good and the bad. It's all gotten me to where I am right now, which is a place that feels beautiful and supportive and comfortable and fulfilled.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Soledad is going to examine the questions about skin color discrimination and race in "who is black in America?," the documentary series. It premieres Sunday, December 9th at 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. So, you know Election Day is near because the campaign tactics are getting more off the wall and dirtier, a few examples for you.

These official looking mailers were sent to people in several Florida counties questioning the citizenship status of some residents. Turns out, they were fake, designed apparently to suppress the Hispanic vote.

And then there are billboards like this one, dozens went up across Ohio and Wisconsin, warning of the penalties for voter fraud. Well, practically, all of them were posted in low income and minority neighborhoods.

Sounds like a case for CNN's Joe Johns to investigate. And of course he did.

So Joe, those billboards are coming down because of public pressure. But the damage may already be done, meaning, meaning making the voting booth a place to fear rather than a place for democracy. Why all this stuff? What's going on?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it may be creating confusion. But you know, Don, you know, we call it silly season, the last few weeks before an election, politics gets as dirty as it can, especially in places like Ohio and Florida where it matters most because you know Florida and Ohio are two battleground states that can swing the election. But to be clear, this kind of stuff goes on every election.

What may be different now is what we are talking before the break, social media shining a light on it. Regular people sort of seeing the underbelly of campaigning and they don't like it. That's perhaps why we're hearing more about it.

LEMON: Yes. What is your twitter feed? @JoeJohnsCNN?

JOHNS: Yes.

LEMON: If you want some good reading tonight, go to donlemoncnn or joejohnscnn and see what you come up with. It's fun.

So, listen. Are these examples of a wider effort to keep, you know, turnout down among certain ethnic or income groups? The right will say no, the left will say yes.

JOHNS: You got it. And you have to do these things case by case. Nobody's ever going to tell you what the real deal is. But, you know, it could be a question of intimidation in some cases. Look at the signs in Ohio and Wisconsin, all they really did was state the law. Voter fraud is a felony but the question is whether that kind of language was intimidating to people who saw the billboards and what the signs didn't say was that voter fraud is a problem in far less than one percent of the voters' tax.

LEMON: That's what I was going to say. Is voter fraud a big problem in this country? I have said no over and over on this program. And people will fight and go, no, it is -- it's not a problem.

JOHNS: Right. Look. I mean, you can find all kinds of anecdotes about voter fraud that go back years and years. But the question is whether research-wise, scientifically, empirically. Is it the kind of problem that is substantial enough to launch a trend or whatever? And people say, no, no, it's just not that big of a problem. And there have been a lot of studies trying to find out differently. So far they found out that it's a very small problem. And that's why I address it the way I do.

LEMON: What is interesting to me is that the voter fraud issues don't come from people who are trying to vote and are not registered or use someone else's name. It comes from people who are, quote, unquote "registering people or are in the process," and people who are actually work. So, that's not the issue. If there is an issue with voter fraud, it's not the issue of a voter going in.

JOHNS: Right, in-person voter fraud.

LEMON: It is in person, yes. Democratic congressman Jim (INAUDIBLE), resigned as field director for his dad's campaign this week. He was caught on video talking about ways to cast fraudulent ballots. Is that a widespread tactic? I don't think so.

JOHNS: Yes. You know, honestly, I can't tell you -- I've looked at that tape more than a few times and it's confusing what they were talking about because the more you listen to it, the more it sounds like any type of voter fraud that might have been contemplated in that conversation would actually be harder than just going and getting out the vote, you know? Patrick Moran has said he would never endorse any illegal activity. He said he was just responding to a guy who was interviewing him. He thought it was a joke.

LEMON: Right.

JOHNS: The truth is, though, I think, you can get plenty of anecdotes about voter fraud. It just haven't been any statistical proof --

LEMON: And as I mentioned, I was -- the guy in Florida hired by the Republican Party to register voters, found dumping applications in dumpsters. That's not voters. That is the one who is hired, again, as we said. And then, the fliers who are being send out, that's a whole other issues. The same thing, it's not voters. It's people who are trying to --

JOHNS: And the lines blur, Don. Sometimes the lines between so- called voter suppression and voter fraud tend to blur, like that case you were just describing down in Florida where they send out letters. They come from the state of Washington. They're telling people, you, you know, we're questioning your citizenship, we're questioning your registration.

So, is that fraud? Yes, the authorities say, they think it's mail fraud. But is it also perhaps suppression? Yes, it could be that, too. So the lines sort of blur there a little bit.

LEMON: Joe Johns, great conversation, thank you.

We have gone over on every conversation we have had because it has been great. So, I don't know what is coming up next. We will just be right back.

Thank you, Joe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Last time where we got an up close look at the world according to Lance Armstrong. And this is the way many of us remember him, an athlete without equal. In that documentary first shown in Australia, the disgraced cyclist denied cheating to win seven Tour de France titles. But former friends and teammates say Armstrong is a liar.

Well, the documentary investigation was led by reporter Quentin McDermott. And there he is. He joins us from Sydney, Australia.

Thank you for joining us. We have gone long in the show. I want to spend much more time with you and tape you after this. but we will go ahead and do it live now.

You have seen the evidence and heard Armstrong's denial. What do you think after it? Did he cheat?

QUENTIN MCDERMOTT, JOURNALIST: I don't think there's any doubt whatsoever, Don, that he cheated. This was indeed, you know, the biggest heist ever carried out in sport. It was the biggest fraud ever carried out in sport. And it was highly organized. And the man leading that organization and leading the fraud within his own team was Lance Armstrong. I don't think there's any doubt of that at all.

LEMON: Quentin, do you think that Armstrong will ever admit to cheating or will he die, you think, just insisting he was clean?

MCDERMOTT: I think when you look at the sworn deposition that he gave and the fact that he repeatedly again and again and again apparently lies, if all the evidence which has been presented so far is to be believed, and I think most people do now believe that evidence, he lies again and again and again and he's built up this enormous edifice of lies which he inhabits now.

And so, I think in fact it is possible quite unlikely that he will ever actually come clean although of course it will be good for the sport if he did so and it would probably be better for him if he did as well.

LEMON: And so, the tour de France organizers say no one will be declared winners for the years that Armstrong finished first and many see it as an admission that there were many more people in line behind Lance Armstrong who were doping as well. Is that an admission by them, do you believe?

MCDERMOTT: Well, I think it's not only an admission, Don, it's a fact that something like at one-third of the top ten winners in ten years from about 1998 onwards were tainted by doping. That's simply a fact. A lot of them were found guilty through tests, where they, if you like, tested positive for doping. And others came out and admitted it eventually. There's no question that it would be an impossible task to reassign those titles to any of the other top finishers.

Yes. Well, it was a fascinating hour just before this. And Quentin McDermott is a reporter, thank you so much. We appreciate you joining us here on CNN.

A company who wants Christina Aguilera, the singer, well, they want her to be her front person because they say she may be sitting on her biggest asset. And all along we thought her gift was her voice. But it just might be her curves. That's next.

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LEMON: The worlds of entertainment and politics especially this close to the election, well, they bleed into each other, of course. On "30 rock," Don Cheadle is paid to endorse Mitt Romney. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON CHEADLE, ACTOR: Hi, I'm Hollywood liberal Don Cheadle and I support -- Barack Obama would have you believe that African-Americans are better off under his leadership. But I just got $10 million for appearing in an ad for Mitt Romney. So ask yourselves, brothers and sisters, who's really got your back? Because from where I'm standing, Mitt Romney is -- oh, my dear --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Dean and I saw that. It was hilarious. Dean Obeidallah is here. Again, there is question that Hollywood skewers are right more than the left, I think. But you know, your new article on CNN.com, are you getting more material from the right or from the left?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, POLITICAL COMEDIAN: It depends on what you're talking about. I try to get material from both. I think sometimes some of the politicians on the right give us more material, maybe because I'm a little bit more progressive. But some of the stuff this week wasn't even material. It was ridiculous. You already had it on. You have Trump and Coulter and Sarah Palin and John Sununu. You know, I just wrote an article for CNN entitled "ignore the publicity whores." I'm speaking to you, America. Please ignore them. I'm not kidding. Because the media just reflects what we want. The media is a business.

If Ann Coulter doesn't date ratings on Piers Morgan, she's not on again. So, we ignore them and so are you. So, that is really my whole point in my article.

LEMON: You were really flabbergasted at that. And then also, you sent me something, and I hadn't seen it yet because I was off this week, about Sarah Palin, (INAUDIBLE). Why did that get to you so much?

OBEIDALLAH: Because she knows exactly what that means. She knows -- it's a coded -- it's a dog whistle for race. That's what everyone says. We know it. Instead of saying President Obama -- it's a term used by slaves, a lot of times, when they were joking with each other or even trying to lie to the master. So to me, it was outrageous. She knows what she is doing.

And people like her are just about publicity. It's not about helping politics or helping us understand the issues. It's about Sarah Palin being in the media. It's about Donald Trump. It's about, you know, Ann Coulter. These people are just about themselves. If we tune them out, guess what, they'll go away. It's like a rash or a scab, you pick at it, it stays. You ignored it, guess what, it heals, it's gone.

LEMON: Yes.

OBEIDALLAH: That's what we should treat them like rashes.

LEMON: She denies it has anything to do with it. She even disciplines her kid and says you should be going your homework instead of watching TV. So, she end - that's what she said.

OBEIDALLAH: She even note you know, she was dump by Kitty Kardashian with publication does she reads. So, perhaps, you know maybe there's some truth to that. I don't think so.

LEMON: That shuck and jive thing, by the way, hasn't been used since the '70s in Stanford.

OBEIDALLAH: Right.

LEMON: That is really an old thing.

OBEIDALLAH: She should say dynamite.

LEMON: So, listen. Let's talk about Christina Aguilera. Is this ad bad for Christina Aguilera? A Web site that says it caters to big girls and guys. Can we hear it?

(VIDE CLIP PLAYING)

LEMON: Dean, she has reportedly been offered $3 million to work with this site for bigger girls. So what do you think?

OBEIDALLAH: It's great. This is great. First, that song was in "Madagascar," the movie. And I love that movie and I love that movie and I love that song that was in there. Why not? There should be role models of all different body sizes for men and women. I'd like to see, you know, bathing suit models for men who only go to the gym once a month so I can feel better about myself. And I think we should have diversity and integrity of people who are out there. And celebrities, non-celebrities, feel good about yourself, whatever you body image, as long as it's not unhealthy on either side of the spectrum.

LEMON: All right. Once a month you go to the gym and I here, I thought, it was less than that.

OBEIDALLAH: I go more than that, Don. I'm just saying.

LEMON: Thank you, Dean. Appreciate it

OBEIDALLAH: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: The presidential election, just days away and you won't just be picking your president. How your choice may affect the actions of the fed, next.

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LEMON: When you cast your ballot for president, you will also help shape the financial future of America.

CNN's Ali Velshi shines some light on that issue in this week's mastering your money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Theoretically, the federal reverse is independent of the president and the executive branch of government. But presidents do appoint the chairman of the fed. So it matters to you and your money who sits in that seat.

Alan Blinder is a professor of economics at Princeton University. He is a former federal reverse vice chairman.

Thank you for joining us, sir. It's good to see you.

ALAN BLINDER, PROFESSOR, PRINCETON University: My pleasure.

VELSHI: Let's talk about Ben Bernanke's fed. Does it have more of an influence on this economy - has this fed has more of an influence on our markets and the economy then, than the fed's mission would dictate that it has?

BLINDER: Well, that's a hard question to answer because the fed's mission is to promote maximum employment and stable prices. As you just said, the price level -- inflation rate's been very stable over the Bernanke era, as it was in the later part of the Greenspan era. The fed has been working overtime, so to speak, both figuratively and literally on its employment mandate and it still is. What's clear, it's been very activists by historical standards, absolutely.

VELSHI: Should Congress be doing more of the work that the fed is trying to achieve?

BLINDER: Congress should be doing more of the work the fed's trying to achieve.

Look, the reason the fed has been pulling so many different levers over the last several years is that its normal weapon, the short-term interest rate, the federal funds rate, hit virtually zero all the way back in December 2008.

At that point, the Bernanke fed could have said, we give up, we're closing up shop, that's all we can do. I think that would have been a huge mistake. Or it could try to look for other things it could do, such as these various quantitative easing s and other things the fed has put into effect. That's the course it took.

I think that's the course. It doesn't mean to cut every little detail right always, but it was basically the right course.

VELSHI: Alan, a pleasure talking o you. Thanks very much for joining us and giving us a bit of a conversation and a primer on what the fed's supposed to do and what it's been doing in the last few years.

Alan Blinder.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: There is no stopping it, no stopping it. A Korean pop star has the world doing his videos, horsey dance. Even the U.N. secretary general did it. But, can the power of Gangnam style be used for good? That's next.

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LEMON: It is the end of the show and it is our moment of the week.

We have seen it on web and on TV. We're talking about Gangnam style. That's a horse dance, Korean -pop or K-pop hit written and performed by Korean singer, Psy. It has gone viral.

Well, recently an Atlanta area hip-hop dance team performed the international hit around the city encouraging younger voters to go to the polls. Now, Imagine their surprise and ours when legendary voting rights activist congressman John Lewis joined in and went Gangnam style.

He's our moment of the week because he left his ego behind for good cause.

I'm Don Lemon. Thanks for watching. Have a good night.